In “A Modest Proposal”, the inconsistency between the idea of social use and antisocial nature is not fully associated with the sender, like is Thoreau’s case, but rather with the nature of the proposed action. This incongruence makes Thoreau a less credible speaker. Therefore, whereas the source or sender of the message about the social use of civil disobedience positions himself as antisocial and indifferent to the social issues, he nevertheless promotes his proposal as beneficial to the entire society. On the other hand, Thoreau himself declares his own indifference to the community’s needs: “The State, having thus learned that I did not wish to be regarded as a member of that church, has never made a like demand on me since” (Thoreau, par. As one can understand, the purpose of civil disobedience refers to the universal human feelings of compassion and mercy for the soldiers and slaves and is possible only if the perpetrator of this “transgression’ has a high degree of social interest. For instance, the scholar proposes that individuals, for the sake of terminating the bloody Mexican war and prevent the deaths of their fellow citizens as well as in order to eradicate slavery, avoid paying taxes, as taxes are actually the costs of maintaining the exploitation of others and the armed conflict (Thoreau, par.1-2). In “Civil Disobedience”, there is an intrinsic incongruence between the social use of the actions proposed by the writer, and his actual asociality as one can interpret it when reading the pamphlet.

The present paper is intended to analyze the internal conflicts of both works and argues that whereas the essays are quite similar due to the evidence of clash between the idea of social use and asociality in both of them, the incongruence between Thoreau’s ideas is associated with his distrust for the majority, whereas the major logical and conceptual fallacy in Swift’s work consists in his sympathy with the majority, or the livestock.

Jonathan Swift, one of the most outstanding adepts and apologists of political, social and scientific Enlightenment and the author of a variety of satirical essays, created his tract entitled “A Modest Proposal” in response to the incongruence between the degree of adoption of humanist values in England and the inhumane social policies in Ireland, which were inhibiting national dignity of Irish people and abuse the true understanding of humanity. In the work entitled “Civil Disobedience”, David Thoreau provides the ideas, which could be categorized as the peaceful and non-violent anarchism and refutes the importance of law and authority and the sources of compulsion. Although Henry David Thoreau and Jonathan Swift in different historical periods, both of them actually address the ways and methods of social change in their respective essays “Civil Disobedience” and “A Modest Proposal”.

Hd thoreau civil disobedience